English National Opera ‘bans’ water after vodka smuggling problems

The English National Opera (ENO) has reinforced its ban on unsealed water bottles and other food and drink items after chief executive Stuart Murphy highlighted the problems caused by “people decanting vodka into water bottles”.

The ENO’s food and drink policy, which was set last year and updated in May, is making headlines again after audience members attending a performance of Richard Strauss’s Salome where forced to empty their water bottles across the steps of the Coliseum in St Martin’s Lane.

Stuart Murphy, who was made chief executive in April, tweeted in response to the incident: “What’s unwelcoming is people decanting vodka into water bottles and ruining the experience for the vast majority of our beloved audience.

“We always put the interests of opera & theatre fans first, which is why we allow only sealed bottles of water into the Coliseum. The last thing we want is for a tiny minority of people to ruin the experience for the vast majority of our audience”.

The food and drink policy states that other than sealed water bottles, food and drink purchased outside the Coliseum will not be allowed in. Stewards will request that audience members empty water bottles and ask them to refill them once inside with free water provided.

It continued: “This is about being consistent and fair to everyone. As ever, we will provide filtered water for free at every level and in every bar at the Coliseum. As a licence holder, we have a duty of care to our audience and among those legal obligations, we have to prevent public nuisance, protect public health, safely protect children and secure public safety and so, as with any bar, this means ensuring people don’t consume their own alcohol in the venue.

Watching ENO stewards making punters empty water bottles across the steps of the coliseum, rather than allow dangerous H2O into the building. This still feels like unwelcoming craziness @stuartmurphy100

— Calum Kennedy (@svabhava9) September 28, 2018

It acknowledged that its original policy “gave some people the impression that we were taking an elitist approach to opera”. However, the opera house denied this was the case stating that all operas are performed in English, thousands of free tickets are given away to dress rehearsals and a fifth of all its tickets are priced at £20 or less.

It has received criticism from some, however, on the pricing of food and drink inside the venue, while Twitter user Calum Kennedy called the measure “unwelcoming craziness” and questioned how many people were actually smuggling alcohol into the premises.